Hello,
For internal reasons, we have decided to move this DB2 on Campus blog to the following site:
http://blog-db2oncampus.blogspot.com/
Hope to see you there!
Cheers, Raul.
This year the student’s presentation I’m delivering as part of the DB2 on Campus program is titled “Web 2.0 and DB2 demos”. I first explain in simple terms the concepts of SOA, Web 2.0, XML, and pureXML technologies. Then I mention two approaches of free application development. One of them uses a J2EE approach with free (and some open source) software like Linux/Eclipse/DB2 Express-C/WAS-CE. These are used to develop Web Services. The other free application development approach is to use open source languages like RoR or PHP with DB2 Express-C.
For the first approach, I show a live demo to create data web services using IBM Data Studio (an Eclipse-based tool), which connects to a DB2 Express-C database, deploying the Web service on a WAS-CE app server (that comes as separate install image in IBM Data Studio). This demo was created by the team led by Michael Schenker (IBM Data Web Services and SOA Team Lead) and it’s recorded on a video in channeldb2.com. I’m including below answers to some of the typical questions I encounter when showing this demo live. Thanks again to Michael for helping out with this information!:
Q1.
The data Web Services created with IBM Data Studio and deployed to WAS-CE were invoked from a browser for the REST version. How about the SOAP version?
A1.
Web Browsers do not support SOAP right away – however – you could (under certain circumstances) use some JavaScript (e.g. the XmlHttpRequest object) to call the Web Service using SOAP. You need to be aware of the browser’s cross-host-scripting security issues – the JavaScript which executes the XmlHttpReuqest against the service needs to be hosted at the same Web-/Application server as the Web Service itself – otherwise the browser will block the request.
Q2.
How about invoking the Web Service from an application?
A2.
There are several different ways how you can call (consume) a Web Service. You can use simple HTTP calls from different programming languages. For example, a Java program can simply use the plain Java HTTP API to call the service. You could also use some tool you feed the WSDL with and which generates you some Web service client skeleton code (e.g. wsdl2java – Axis 2 or wsdl.exe – MS .NET). You can also use some pre-build tools like curl. Also for this tool you would need to know how the request XML document has to look like.
There are also Web Service consumer UDFs you can use in DB2 as documented here. You could invoke these UDFs from an application. If you plan to use these UDFs, ensure you work with them starting with DB2 9.5 fixpack 2 (to be available soon). Prior to this fixpack the UDFs were broken in DB2 9.5.
Q3.
How do you call the stored procedure operation in the Web service from a browser directly from the URL? I think for the REST version is just like passing parameters in Http-post/get. How is it done in SOAP?
A3.
As soon as you made the SQL statement or stored procedure call a Web service operation there is no distinction between an operation with an SQL statement behind or one which has a stored procedure call. In both cases input values (which are host variables in case for SQL statements and in or in/out parameters in case of stored procedures) you either provide them as key/value pairs (when using HTTP/GET or POST) or inside the SOAP request.
Q4.
What about security issues with Data Web Services?
A4.
You can enable security when invoking Data Web Service operations using a J2EE security scheme, which is transport-level security. It requires application server-specific extensions inside the Data Web Services application.You can set up security using WAS (or the app server you use). If using WAS take a look at the following tutorials. Security is covered in part 2 and 3:
- Data Web Services on WAS – part 1
- Data Web Services on WAS – part 2
- Data Web Services on WAS – part 3
In a previous blog entry, I mentioned we reached almost 2000 students and 150 teachers in about 50 different universities in ASEAN. The story does not end there. In Vietnam, the local AI representative (Khiem Nguyen) is replicating the model and reaching more universities. For example, last week, he visited FPT university and delivered the “Web 2.0 and DB2 demos” presentation to 60+ students and 5 teachers. Following the model used to deploy the DB2 on Campus program and the IBM Academic Qualification, he then met with faculty to present the program, which was well received. FPT is now happy to participate in the IBM Academic Qualification program, and will likely send some teachers to the faculty training I will deliver at UNS university this August 18th. Khiem did a great job as well to find many student volunteers to translate the “Getting Started with DB2 Express-C” book to Vietnamese and to coordinate the work. He also found local funding to print hardcopies. We distributed some of these hardcopies during the DB2 on Campus tour, and he is distributing more as he visits more universities. The picture shown is from Duytan university in Danang, Vietnam where 80+ students and 3 teachers attended the presentation.
In Indonesia, Binus university has a program in Computer Science where almost 700 students choose the Data Management specialization every year. After the DB2 on Campus student’s presentation, faculty members agreed that they would be offering DB2 in their curriculum. We are currently working with them to prepare the materials they can use that are suitable to what they want to achieve. They have indicated that starting this September, 600 out of the 700 students will receive training on DB2 per year as part of their curriculum if the material is ready. They plan to use the “Getting Started with DB2 Express-C” book and corresponding DB2 on Campus videos as part of the course, and we are also working on creating the course project. The picture shows some teachers and the dean of the computer science department at Binus university, listening to the faculty presentation about the DB2 on Campus and IBM Academic Qualification programs.
Similar examples where DB2 is being added to university curriculum is happening in Thailand and Malaysia. I’ll report on that on a later blog.
Cheers, Raul.
One of the benefits of becoming a DB2 Student Ambassador is that you can showcase your skills and network with different IBM employees. This was the case of Nuno Job, a DB2 Student Ambassador from the University of Minho, Portugal. Nuno became a DB2 Student ambassador after attending a DB2 on Campus presentation at his university, and delivered by one of my colleagues (Vitor Rodrigues). After volunteering to work on several tasks (one of them was the development of some Industry bundle demos, and working on the DB2 on Campus community web site, he impressed several IBMers with his skills and hard work. This is how he got his one-year internship at IBM in New York which will start this October. Congratulations Nuno!
Another example is the one from Caroline Beatriz Perlin, a student from the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) in Sao Carlos, Brazil. Caroline volunteered in many DB2 on Campus related tasks organizing DB2 certification events and getting certified herself on DB2. She also worked voluntarily at the Center of Training in Databases at her university where she studied DB2 in detail with other classmates; and helped translate the Getting Started with DB2 Express-C book from English to Portuguese. This is how she networked with Hiro, an IBM Brazil employee and UFSCar alumni, and through this relationship, she joined IBM Brazil, first as an intern, and now full-time as a DB2 DBA!
Then we have the example of Sara Perez, a student at UNITEC in Mexico City. Sara was a DB2 Student Ambassador in 2007 and was the president of the DB2 User Group at her university. Thanks to her initiatives, several of her classmates including herself became certified on DB2 as “Database Associates”. After graduating, Sara “passed the torch” to her classmate Lourdes Fragoso, who became the new president of the group, and who continued pushing even further to obtain the DB2 DBA certification. Even though Sara was no longer a student, she kept in touch with the group, and prepared with them for the DB2 DBA exam which she successfully passed with Lourdes. Now Sara is working as a contractor at IBM through an IBM business partner. Congratulations Sara!
Lastly…before this blog entry gets too long, we have the “case” of Felix Mahimai, a Master’s student at Politecnico di Milano, in Milan, Italy. Felix became a DB2 Student Ambassador after one of my visits at his school in 2007. As a DB2 Student Ambassador, Felix has been in constant contact with a manager at IBM Italy (Carla) who organizes the Italian DB2 on Campus visits. He is working now on translating the Getting started with DB2 Express-C book to Italian, and trying to continue the work that Nuno started with the community DB2 on Campus portal at www.db2oncampus.org (Ruby on Rails application). Recently Felix was selected to join IBM Italy on a 3-month internship position!.
Becoming a DB2 Student Ambassador is not a guarantee for a job at IBM or any other company, but if you have the willingness and put the effort, it can allow you to become “visible” to different employers, and open you the doors to the career you want… So don’t be shy and participate! You can read more about this program at the community DB2 on Campus portal: http://www.db2oncampus.org/ including other student testimonials.
When I was a student, I attended several seminars to learn how to find a job after graduation. Several of these seminars indicated that “Networking” was the number one method of landing the perfect job at the company you dreamed to work for. Now that I work for IBM, in a job I really enjoy, I can confirm this is very true. When I deliver presentations to students, I also provide them with hints about finding work, and I often say:
“Don’t wait until you graduate to apply for jobs. Don’t just send your resume by email or regular mail to the Human Resources department of a company. Instead, take advantage of visits from company employees (like me!) to network and get good contacts.”
On some occasions, many students would approach me after the presentation, and indeed try to network with me. Surprisingly though, in most universities I visited, students are shy, and only one or two approach me after the presentation. But these one or two students, are the ones who eventually become DB2 Student Ambassadors, and in some cases end up being hired by IBM! So… network! network! network!
The growing student and faculty DB2 on Campus community has created a new site: www.db2oncampus.org. This site is ran by students and currently hosted at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) in Sao Carlos, Brazil!. Several parts of the site are still under construction, but what is already available explains the DB2 on Campus program and how it can benefit students, teachers and DB2 professionals. Check it out!
Starting in 2008, the DB2 on Campus program has been redesigned as follows:
- It promotes the IBM Academic Qualification (AQ) Program. The AQ program has been running successfully in Latin America since 2002, and it’s main objective is to include DB2 in the university curriculum, and prepares the students (to a certain extent) to be ready to become DB2 certified.
- DB2 Express-C is not the only software that is promoted/demo-ed, but also Rational Data Architect (RDA) (a modelling tool) and IBM Data Studio (a full lifecycle data management solution for database application development and management.)
- The introductory DB2 on Campus presentation used this year is about Web 2.0 and DB2 demos. In this presentation, we discuss the importance of XML as the foundation of SOA and Web 2.0, and how DB2 supports XML with pureXML™ technology. A few demos are provided, one of them about an application using Ruby on Rails and DB2 Express-C, and another one showing how to create Data Web Services in IBM Data Studio.
The redesigned DB2 on Campus program has been successfully deployed in ASEAN countries (Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam) where we reached almost 2000 students and 150 teachers in about 50 different universities! It will be later deployed in some countries in Europe.
Learn DB2 Express-C in one day (OK, maybe in two!) from these free resources
Published July 1, 2008 Uncategorized Leave a CommentVideos, PDF presentations or a book – choose the format you prefer to learn DB2 Express-C quickly! The content is the same but in multiple formats:
- Download and watch the DB2 on Campus Videos
- Review the DB2 on Campus presentations (PDF included when downloading the videos)
- Review the book “Getting Started with DB2 Express-C”
Hands-on exercises (“Quicklabs”) are included. Moreover, the “Getting Started with DB2 Express-C” book is available in several languages including Vietnamese, Simplified Chinese, and Portuguese (Brazil). The translated versions of the book can be found with the English version here, and were translated by volunteers of the DB2 community!
This material is also used during the two-day DB2 on Campus instructor workshop. It is also included in the DB2 on Campus DVD that is distributed during DB2 on Campus presentations worldwide.
On a recent visit to Indonesia, the Indonesian Ministry of Education indicated they would be uploading these videos to their online e-learning system reaching at least 14,000 students!
Cheers, Raul.
DB2 Express-C, the free edition of DB2 was announced on January of 2006. Given that I was traveling to Brazil to deliver training to IBM Business Partners, I took this as an opportunity to promote DB2 Express-C, and pureXML technology at universities in Brazil.
My visit coincided with riots taking place in Sao Paulo, and I almost had to return to Canada!. Fortunately the situation improved, and I was able to visit 5 universities in the area. Organizing these events required a lot of planning from the local team, so canceling last minute would have been a big problem.
The presentations were very successful. The IBM Brazil team did an amazing job to get a great audience for the presentations (close to 500), and I was glad I received comments like “This was a very interesting presentation. I normally don’t stay for the entire duration of a presentation, but I really enjoyed this one!”. From my part, one of the things I like the best about Brazil is the people!. They are very hospitable, happy and kind.
I started blogging about “DB2 on Campus” in the DB2 Express-C blog but from now on, I will be blogging here since it’s more specific to DB2 on Campus activities.
Send me a note or comment on this post if you’d like to join as a contributor to this blog.
Cheers, Raul.
Hello everyone,
I’m starting this blog to talk about things mainly related to the DB2 on Campus program. If you’d like to be a regular contributor to this blog, send me a note or comment on this entry to contact you!. The blog is mainly in English, but feel free to write things on your own native language.
Let’s start blogging!
Cheers, Raul.
